In short, I need help here. I looked at the 2008 extensive post on this forum, name escapes me, where Newt took someone through similar (and difficult) mysql problems but nothing there seems to get me up and running.

Does anyone have a clue? I am trying to install wordpress and apparently it requires mysql.

check your /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld...it will give you some instruction on how to configure mysql

Quote

#!/bin/sh# Start/stop/restart mysqld.## Copyright 2003 Patrick J. Volkerding, Concord, CA# Copyright 2003 Slackware Linux, Inc., Concord, CA# Copyright 2008 Patrick J. Volkerding, Sebeka, MN## This program comes with NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.# You may redistribute copies of this program under the terms of the# GNU General Public License.

# To start MySQL automatically at boot, be sure this script is executable:# chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld

# Before you can run MySQL, you must have a database. To install an initial# database, do this as root:## mysql_install_db --user=mysql## Note that the mysql user must exist in /etc/passwd, and the created files# will be owned by this dedicated user. This is important, or else mysql# (which runs as user "mysql") will not be able to write to the database# later (this can be fixed with 'chown -R mysql.mysql /var/lib/mysql').## To increase system security, consider using "mysql_secure_installation"# as well. For more information on this tool, please read:# man mysql_secure_installation

# To allow outside connections to the database comment out the next line.# If you don't need incoming network connections, then leave the line# uncommented to improve system security.SKIP="--skip-networking"

# Uncomment the next line to use Oracle's InnoDB plugin instead of the included XtraDB#INNODB="--ignore-builtin-innodb --plugin-load=innodb=ha_innodb.so"

Or, another way to start it, which I find is better, is to use the Menu's "Run Program" program (Alt-F2), and run the command "gksu mysqld_safe", because then you don't have to contend with a terminal being perpetually open while it runs. Just ensure you have gksu installed to do this.

ETA: It can also be helpful too to have phpMyAdmin installed to better administer your mysql installation. Just download it and put the phpMyAdmin folder in your webserver folder, being sure to change the ownership to your server (IE, if it's lighttpd, then change the ownership of the folder and files to lighttpd.) Then access it by going to http://yourdomain/phpMyAdmin

Thanks to this wonderful forum, I am at the wordpress install screen! First time I got that far. So I guess I don't have mysql problems after all. I will post if I have further problems. Will wait til then to mark this "solved."